2006 Press Release

2006 Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism

CJC Recognizes Journalists in 12th Annual Contest

The Rocky Mountain News’s penetrating examination of dropouts; Mother Jones’ thorough investigation of the overmedication of children in state-run institutions; the Kindling Group’s longform portrait of a woman assisting pregnant teens; and The Commercial Appeals’ revealing stories and photographs about Memphis’ hidden crisis in infant deaths were among the winning stories in the 2006 Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism contest.

Other media organizations winning top honors in the 12th annual contest were The Seattle Times, WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill, N.C.); The Chicago Tribune;Phoenix New Times; WISH TV, (Indianapolis); The Arkansas Democrat Gazette; The Journal Times (Racine, Wis.); and Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. Winners will receive a Casey Medal and a $1,000 award at a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7, 2006.

More than 560 journalists entered this year’s contest. Judges looked for masterfully reported compelling stories that cut through “compassion fatigue”; socially significant topics; demonstration of enterprise and thorough research; and evidence of story impact. Judges awarded prizes in 13 of the 14 categories; no prize was given for online journalism. The deadline for the next contest (for work published or aired in 2006) is March 1, 2007.

This enlightening, comprehensive package may be the most precise and nuanced statistical portrait of dropouts that has yet been done in a big-city school system. The News has constructed an evaluation model that could be used by urban-school reformers who want to confront and improve their record of holding onto at-risk kids. The articles effectively illuminate some of the economic and cultural factors buffeting individual choices, while continually emphasizing what is at stake: the future of flawed, complex, promising kids. A genuine public service.

“Born to Die” is classic journalism. The newspaper identified a local problem of national importance: Memphis was home to the worst infant mortality rate in the nation, and many of those babies who were dying were babies of color. The reporting was terrific, powered by sharp details; the writing was spare and direct. The writer got at the root causes, found a creative way to bring it home not only to Memphis, but to a specific community and made it very hard to put the story down. A tremendous accomplishment considering the subject of infant mortality has been tackled many times before.

A deeply reported portrait of a neighborhood under siege by violent drug dealers and police resistance to new enforcement techniques that has resulted in greater community involvement, greater state and government resources and changed in the way local police fight drug traffickers.

The reporter’s massive review of records revealed that poor teachers with tenure are largely out of reach for discipline or termination. As a result, Illinois legislators and school officials are promising reform.

An engaging, well-written story of African refugees who fled genocide to start new lives in a very foreign land that took real reporting skill. It would have been easy for the newspaper to let the newcomers slip into oblivion after their arrival. Instead they humanized them and gave the community reason to embrace them.

Deep, powerful reporting and writing about the ravages of alcohol at the Pine Ridge reservation and how the disease has been tearing apart the Lakota tribe. The reporters placed a lot of their attention on the young generation struggling to succeed. This series could have devolved into stereotypes, but the reporters always treated the reservation residents with dignity, and approached them as vulnerable human beings.

This series about students on the margins -- students who are homeless, or whose families are migrant workers, or who live in foster care -- is pure testimony that it’s worth spending the resources to really tell the story of invisible children, and to tell it well.

An unsparing, searing account of a single child custody case that illustrates the tenuous nature of life in the underclass, and the obstacles confronting both parents and those charged with ensuring child welfare. The sustained nature of the two-year reporting focus was the key to the drama of the story; the reporter didn't know whether he would be telling a story of tragedy or triumph, but simply showed the unraveling of the couple's hopes to be reunited with their child. It broke new ground in reporting on society’s need to protect the rights of the children while honoring the traditional rights of birth parents to rear their kids.

A shining example of how a tenacious reporter can make a significant difference in her community -- and her state. Upshaw recognized a good story when she started working on a standard follow-up to a brief about a girl's death. Through dogged reporting she ultimately discovered that problems at a youth services center most likely contributed to the neglect of Keisha Brown, who died after complaining of health problems. Impressive impact on the state legislature and agencies.

Rowe took a subject prone to compassion fatigue -- the problems that overburdened child protection workers face -- and crafted a highly readable story. The story finds its power not through numbers or policy arguments, but through specific, detailed, complicated family cases. We see the clients as flawed human beings, and we see the difficult decisions that social workers have to make.

This is a strong narrative showing us what it's like to be a single mom who is trying to keep her nine kids despite a history of drug addiction. It's reminiscent of Leon Dash's monumental series on Rosa Lee Cunningham.

The ups and downs of becoming a “parent” for the second time come through loud and clear in this story. There is a lot to this story. It's personal and gets deeply into the life of the main character. It also thoroughly documents the scope of the phenomenon of grandparents raising kids, offering resources for those who want help. And the writer lets grandma Bonnie Wozniak show readers what it’s like raising two young girls in today’s Britney Spears culture.

In a society where newspapers (and the people who write and edit them) are supposedly becoming more irrelevant, this series shows why there is still no substitute for pointed, well-written journalism. The editorials pierced the reality of inexcusable conditions inside the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, with enterprising shoe-leather reporting; powerfully written and argued.

The series on misleading dropout data peddled by Indianapolis Public Schools represents a sterling example of accountability journalism, well written and beautifully packaged, with real voices and graphics that added to the powerful impact of the editorials themselves.

Waters' diligent reporting and clear explanatory prose take the reader through a series of little-known worlds, where concerns about overmedication and pharmaceutical-company influence are silenced. Waters demonstrates the huge public cost of biased medication selection in state facilities, but the human cost is what lingers: sick children routinely subjected to off-label polypharmacy that bears no relation to their clinical diagnoses, and for which there is no evidence of efficacy. Illuminating and alarming, the article documents how the pharmaceutical industry is methodically gaining influence over the state officials who decide which drugs are used at state-funded and run institutions.

Runner-up: Mary Van de Kamp Nohl, Milwaukee Magazine, "The Lesson: A Tale of Two Schools"

Nohl’s story is brilliantly conceived, passionately reported, and undergirded by a wealth of current educational research. She relies on ambition, originality and optimism in framing and reporting this important story.

Labi’s harrowing subject matter is honored by the elegant, understated telling -- a stylistic discipline that almost masks the staggering difficulty of her investigative reporting. An extraordinary piece of journalism.

A gripping, heart-wrenching story. It takes us beyond the rhetoric and policy debates, and shows us the private horror so many couples face when they find out they’re carrying a child with fetal abnormalities. The story avoids taking sides and deepens our understanding of the pro-life/pro-choice debate.

The paper’s commitment to covering -- and uncovering -- the story of how a sect of fundamentalist Mormon polygamists took over a town didn’t just make for compelling reading, it was important work, revealing shockingly widespread sexual abuse, pedophilia and misuse of public funds that had gone on for years. This body of work shows lots of shoe-leather and determination. Authorities looked the other way and probably would have continued to do so, had it not been for the Phoenix Times’ comprehensive, persistent, and passionate coverage. It was a tough story to get and The New Times should be applauded for stepping in where authorities failed to go.

An insightful, unflinching look at a football team in a tough, inner city high school, the story shed light on the challenges the players and the coaches face and captured the difficulty of giving hope to teenagers who need it. Football offered a lens into life in a bleak neighborhood.

Pulfer Focht’s work on infant mortality and premature babies dissected this important issue in a visually intimate way. By spending a great deal of time with her subjects she was able to create intimate and beautiful portraits of pain and hope. Her images helped bring attention to how young, African-American mothers were being affected by a trend that few people in or out of government fully understood. By raising awareness she prompted local and state government to act when they had previously failed to even recognize that a problem existed. This is the highest form of photojournalism: images that prick the conscious and encourage action.

McDermott and Nakasone’s four-part series on the Indiana foster care system begins with a harrowing scene: Police and caseworkers have come to the home of woman who has tested positive for drug abuse. In the dark of the night, they carry the woman’s child away. The harrowing part is not just the removal, it’s the underlying reality: A shortage of foster care homes means the caseworkers are not sure where this child will end up. The series illuminates a serious problem plaguing cities around the country and points to solutions. WISH took on a story few stations would attempt, given the difficulties of dealing with the juvenile justice system, with parents accused of neglect and with the foster care system.

This was a powerful, well-told and well-produced story. It makes people care about an issue that they may not realize they should care about. And it makes the viewer realize just how important it is for all parents to understand food allergies, even if their own child does not suffer from them. This story breaks through, grabs your attention and doesn’t let go.

With compassion, clarity, and a keen eye for detail, Daniel Alpert and the Kindling Group portray the efforts of Loretha Weisinger, a doula, to educate and empower teen mothers on Chicago’s west side. Weisinger promises her young charges that “You will not be alone,” and over the course of the program we observe how seriously she takes that commitment and we see the toll it takes on her. Weisinger’s daily rounds become a prism through which we come to understand teen pregnancy and a lot more. One wonders: what would our society would be like if there were enough Loretha Weisingers to go around? Impossible to forget hours after watching it -- the mark of a great tale. A Doula Story has aired on over 60 PBS affiliates. The Kindling Group produces films that explore social and historical issues and create outreach and educational campaigns.

The documentary focuses on one of the foster care system’s most challenging problems: What to do about the perennially institutionalized and moved-around kids who are suddenly old enough to live on their own but may not be ready to do so? “Aging Out,” which aired on PBS, chronicles the trials and tribulations of three young people struggling to make it on their own. It conveys the tension that exists even under the best of circumstances – the tug-of-war between the young people’s desire for independence and their need for ongoing support. The stories are masterfully told and give incredible insight into the struggles of children growing up in the system. The untidiness of their situations force the viewer to think deeply beyond surface judgments about what obligations all of us have to kids caught in the system of social welfare. Public Policy Productions produces documentaries on a range of social issues, all of which have aired on PBS.

This superbly reported and edited series brings listeners into the lives of people living on the edge of economic security and illuminates their daily struggles. The range of stories provides a profound understanding of the issues facing people living at or below the poverty level. And 150 listener e-mails for this local station is nothing to sneeze at -- and since audio segments will be used by local teachers, the series’ impact continues to reverberate within the community.

An expertly produced glimpse into the arduous and emotional journey one woman undertakes to adopt a child. Suzanne's intimate and candid narration of her adoption keeps listeners hanging on her every word.

Online

No winner or runner-up

Honorable mention: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC on the Internet, "Children and Online Safety."Excellent enterprise reporting on the risks children face online. Honorable mention: Emily Hanford, Sarah Field Gronewold and Billy Barnes, WUNC-FM (North Carolina), North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty. A worthy project that raises important questions about who is poor, why are they poor and how have things changed over time.

About

About

The Journalism Center on Children & Families (JCCF) (1993-2014) was devoted to deepening media coverage on issues that affect children, youth and families, particularly the disadvantaged. JCCF provided an array of informational services and connected professional journalists, students and advocates to an extensive network of journalists and content experts. JCCF was based at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

What We Did

JCCF curated daily news content and cutting-edge research about children and families from a wide variety of media, government, academic and public policy sources. The Center provided guidance to journalists seeking sources, tips, experts, data or assistance with ethical dilemmas.

History

JCCF was launched in 1993 with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to create a professional community of practice for reporters whose primary beat was covering children and families. Over 21 years, JCCF offered conferences and fellowship programs to enhance skills and knowledge on a variety of issues, from juvenile justice to preschool education, welfare reform to health care. With support from the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Center created “Beyond The Headlines,” an in-depth resource for reporting on child sexual abuse. The Center produced “When a Child Dies,” an interactive online training module to assist reporters covering child deaths. And, the Center created "LIFELINES: Stories from the Human Safety Net," which included original reporting and resources for reporting on social work.

Find an Expert

Looking for the right person to talk to or interview for your story? Connect with thousands of vetted experts who are informed and media-ready. See our experts now.

Best Practices

The best way to learn is by doing. The next best way is by listening, watching, and observing. Journalists who cover the complex issues affecting children, youth and families have a wealth of experiences and insights. JCCF tapped into this expertise and shared their lessons learned in an series or stories called “Best Practices.”

Training Modules

JCCF offered training for established and emerging journalists. Our in-depth modules include facts, tips, guidelines and resources to help you do journalism better.

Children's Beat Magazine

JCCF once published a print magazine featuring commentary, resources and best practices from journalists in the field. That magazine ceased publication years ago, but you can access the archive and find excellent coverage of the challenges facing reporters on the “Children’s Beat.”